SEO 101 Tip 2: Guest Blogging

Easy link building tip 2: Guest blogging

In my last post I discussed the importance of building relationships in order to run successful and long-lasting link building campaigns. Now let’s get down to business and create some to quality links with the help of my second top tip: guest blogging.

Do

• Look for suitable platforms: It is important to find a blog where it would make sense to find your content. Readers of that site should have a natural interest in what you are discussing. You will find a multitude of opportunities on sites such as http://myblogguest.com.

• Find blogs with quality content: Take a look at the posts already on a website and consider whether they seem spammy, and look at who the authors have been. If the copy is well written and comes from industry professionals it could be a good site to submit your guest posts to.

• Who runs the blog?: Do some research and discover who is in charge. Consider how reputable they seem by looking at their background and the content they publish.

• Look for strict submission guidelines: Quality blogs usually have fairly strict content guidelines, so if it looks too easy to submit to a particular site it’s probably not worthwhile.

• Aim for guest posts on sites that don’t request them: Getting posts onto blogs that don’t request or even mention guest posts can be very valuable and provide top quality backlinks.

Don’t

• Submit to sites that accept any content: This points to a blog of dubious quality and such sites have been punished by search engines in the past for offering very little value to users.

• Approach sites packed with ads: This is another indicator of a poor quality site and excessive ads will discourage users.

• Post on sites that produce no content themselves: It is very rare to find a quality blog that is written solely by guest contributors.

• Bother with sites with low PageRank or Domain Authority: As a rough guide avoid blogs with a domain authority below 30, unless it has a large following as it will probably gain positive signals in the future. You can download the MOZ free toolbar to check domain authority on any website.

• Sites that allow you to post without approval: Decent blogs will have a human approval process. Avoid those that don’t.

Blogging ideas

When it comes to planning a blog post it pays to think big. Consider the audience and the purpose of your post, and try to come up with a click-friendly angle that will make people want to read your article.

There are a number of tools which – while they shouldn’t be relied on too heavily – could help you get up and running with some suitable content ideas:

• Content Strategy Generator Tool

• Google Analytics

• Site Search

• Google alerts

Ten top tips for quality content

Here are a few more tips to help you write posts that will promote your cause and engage your audience:

1) Consider the audience you are writing for

2) Illustrate with graphics

3) Research thoroughly

4) Keep it snappy with subheadings, lists and short paragraphs

5) Use plain English and avoid jargon where possible

6) Be funny and try to entertain

7) Get straight to the point

8) Use anecdotes in your posts

9) Don’t pad the word count

10) Tease readers with cliff-hangers to keep them engaged

Guest blogging can be hugely beneficial in terms of returning top quality links, so consider the pointers in this post and get creative!

I hope this post is helpful and stay tuned for Link building tip 3: Create quality content for natural links.